"Missile missions take two weeks to prepare." Military expert comments on Russia's likely ‘response’ to strike on Saky

He said this on the Espreso TV channel.

"Actually, I would not say that this strike is a response to Saky because the missile missions take two weeks to prepare. It is impossible, relatively speaking, to ensure the redirection of certain missiles in a day. In any case, we understand that Russia was deliberately preparing missile strikes against Ukraine," Zgurets emphasized.

The analyst noted that yesterday, on September 21, the invaders attacked Ukraine with cruise missiles, 36 of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defense, and before that, there was a massive attack by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles on a number of Russian targets in the occupied Crimea, including the airport in Saky.

"There are SU-24 and SU-30 bombers there, which are used to launch missiles at Ukrainian territory, to support Russian ground units. There are statements that a number of Russian aircraft were hit, but there is no satellite confirmation yet. So I believe we will get verified data in some time," Zgurets said.

What preceded it

The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched the most massive strike with unmanned aerial vehicles and Ukrainian missiles against military targets in the currently occupied Crimea. We are talking about the explosions that took place in Saky, Yevpatoria, Simferopol, Sevastopol, and Balaklava. Explosions were heard everywhere. The Security Service and the Ukrainian Navy confirmed this massive attack on Crimea. Among other things, the military airfield in Saky was hit. At that time, Su-24 and Su-30 aircraft, as well as Pantsyr air defense systems, were based at this airfield.

Subsequently, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the massive attack on Crimea, accusing the Ukrainian Armed Forces of being responsible. They note that air defense systems destroyed 19 drones over the peninsula. In addition, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, air defense destroyed one UAV each over the Kursk, Belgorod, and Oryol regions.

The Russian-appointed head of Sevastopol denied that several drones had been destroyed in the city, but confirmed the attack on other parts of the peninsula.

Then, on the night of September 21, Russian troops launched a massive cruise missile attack across Ukraine from 10 Tu-95MS aircraft. The Ukrainian Air Force and Air Defense Forces destroyed most of the missiles. There are victims in Kyiv, Kyiv region, Cherkasy and Kharkiv. A hotel in Cherkasy was destroyed.